What do people do with them? I can understand that the "boomers"(myself included) love the idea of reliving their past through vintagetechnology.And, others just want a complete-as-possible collection of Heathkit

TIME CAPSULES.

Rarely do these collectors actually assemble the kit.Here are the reasons that I have heard, over past 15 years (no judgement)

1. Preservation of intellectual property (IP) of that kit period. 2. It is worth big $$ to somebody, maybe the Chinese will buy me out !!3. Pure capitalism, "It's like buying GOLD !"4. "We" can manufacture new parts, assemblies, bend metal, and new kits based on this un-built kit.

all the excitement must have gone out of the mortgage CDO^3 business, I guess, and this is the new tulip craze.

AC5UP must cry himself to sleep every night thinking about all the garages of BH Green he's dumpstered. some may say he's just nostalgic for an easy target, but really, he just wanted to have spent more time maligning every one before the back flips, nothin' but clank in the tank.

a lot of drift and intermittent signal goes away if you tighten the screws, but he won't admit it.

I think it's because unbuilt Heathkits are collectors items, and have a following. Open the carton, value degrades. Build it, and value degrades a whole lot.

A 2013 Mustang is a much better car than a 1965 Mustang, in every way imaginable.

But if you had an "unused" 1965 Mustang that was purchased new in 1964 and placed in a crate for preservation until now, and just opened the crate today -- even with four flat tires (which it would certainly have) and not being able to start it (because it probably wouldn't), you could auction it off for a lot more than a new 2013 Mustang costs.

btw, some years back, when eBay was new, an unbuilt 1956 AT-1 kit appeared there. It had apparently been bought for a college amateur radio station but never built. Had all the documentation including the receipt for $29.50.

It sold for $5100. That's not a typo - five thousand one hundred US dollars.

btw, some years back, when eBay was new, an unbuilt 1956 AT-1 kit appeared there. It had apparently been bought for a college amateur radio station but never built. Had all the documentation including the receipt for $29.50.

It sold for $5100. That's not a typo - five thousand one hundred US dollars.

73 de Jim, N2EY

The last unbuilt SB-220 I saw on eBAY went for well over $2K. Now that price isn't far off from a typical dual bottled 3-500Z amp ready built from a Tennessee amp supplier but to have the fun of building it yourself would be worth the extra money in my book. I just didn't have an extra $2K+ sitting around waiting to be spent on an unbuilt Heathkit amp

I worked as a RF bench tech (also the stocking clerk, salesman, janitor and all around flunkie) at the Ross Ave Heathkit store in Dallas while attending college there in the mid-70's. I remember stocking the shelves with unbuilt kits including the 'Sugar Baker' series of amps and transcievers/transmitters/receivers and bunches of 'Hot Water 101s'. I have dreams of finding an old barn stuffed full of sealed Heathkit ham gear kits, unbuilt, stored and forgotten till I find them. I'm an instant millionaire

For Sale: 1965 Ford Mustang Kit. Unbuilt. Purchased late 1964. Never opened. Still in boxes and sealed with original packing tape. Tires flat, probably won't crank. Original shipping labels on boxes. Bidding starts at $250,000. No tire kickers, no trades for ham radio junk. Serious inquiries only. FOB shipping point. No refunds, all sales final. No PayPal, no money orders, no USPS. Mail all bids by personal check using FedEx next day service only. Will return all non-winning checks as soon as bidding closes. Will ship merchandise as soon as check clears...really. Trust me.

It is a lot cheaper and as much fun to buy a used SB-220 for a couple hundred, strip it, and rebuild it. You will have just as good an amp with a lot less invested in it.

Cheaper ... most likely.

More fun ... Maybe but possibly a lot more work than I'd like to do if the original builder was sloppy and did a piss poor job in construction. Having worked on Heathkits that were brought into the Heathkit store for repair because the kit builder didn't know a 1/2 watt resistor from a diode and didn't take time to read the instructions, I can safely say that I have seen everything from pristine 'careful deliberate concise' wiring/construction to 'stand back and throw it at the chassis' style. Being one that one NOT be satisfied with crappy workmanship, I would have to completely gut it and rebuild it from the ground up if I had to work from a bad original build. Having built quite a few SB-200 and SB-220 in the period I worked at Heath (i'd buy them with my discount, build them and then sell them to those that wanted one but could not find the time to build or did not have the abilities to build them), I am familiar with the innards of these amps very well (well better back then because I haven't had the chance to tear one apart lately).

Sure you could save some bucks but I would like to be able to build a 'virgin' SB-220 again but not have to pay $2K+ to do it!

I think it's because unbuilt Heathkits are collectors items, and have a following. Open the carton, value degrades. Build it, and value degrades a whole lot.

A 2013 Mustang is a much better car than a 1965 Mustang, in every way imaginable.

But if you had an "unused" 1965 Mustang that was purchased new in 1964 and placed in a crate for preservation until now, and just opened the crate today -- even with four flat tires (which it would certainly have) and not being able to start it (because it probably wouldn't), you could auction it off for a lot more than a new 2013 Mustang costs.

Heard of a "new" '69 Camaro that was stored from day one with just 60 miles on the odometer, that sold for $125K.

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